July 20, 2010

Toy Story 3, Despicable Me, Avatar and a multitude of other current movies have embraced the freshly marketed and admittedly re-vamped third dimension of movies. I won’t take away from the technology used in these movies, I liked the way it looked. That said, does anyone remember the awesomeness that was cheap 3D glasses than came on cereal boxes in the early 90s? Those 3D glasses were wonderful, they let you see puzzles on the side of the box and made everything around you look blue and red. Sure they were shamelessly put there to entice children to beg for unnecessarily sugary cereals but nonetheless, wasn’t it fun?

Before 3D came back into fashion for Hollywood going to the cinema was not as complicated nor as expensive as it is now. Using 3D glasses at the theatre for a 3D show forces the price of tickets up. In addition, there seems to be a new rule that all children’s movies require a third dimension. I don’t mean to negate the progress of computer graphics but a generation of children raised on 3D computer drawn cartoons that feature characters moving at painfully quick speeds across choppy scenes will inevitably make classic cartoons even more a part of the past than they already are.

The high tech 3D of the 2000s is undeniably very nifty. Despite this, the cheap, quick and easy 3D of the 80s and 90s deserves a place, even if only for the sake of nostalgia. I won’t lie, I’d still buy a box of cereal with 3D glasses….wouldn’t you?

February 14, 2010

Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up it’s bobsled time!

OR

“Quack, quack quack quack quack!”

Because the Olympics have officially begun I decided that I wanted to write about a movie that I remember from childhood that made me want to become an Olympian. Two came to mind…Cool Runnings and The Mighty Ducks.

I’ll start with Cool Runnings. Cool Runnings (loosely) told the incredible story for the Jamaican bobsled team that debuted in the 1988 Olympics. The team was inspiring and the movie was funny. For kids, this movie was edgy enough to feel like you were “getting away” with watching it but was still upstanding enough to teach the lessons FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS and DON’T GIVE UP. For children watching the movie it taught such lessons. For adults it was a movie which could envoke tears and reaffirm the risks taken in life. All in all, Cool Runnings was a grand movie.

The Mighty Ducks. To be fair, there are three Mighty Ducks films. I’ll also admit that the Ducks in the movie never technically go to the Olympics. However, in Mighty Ducks 2 the kids led by Coach Gordon Bombay go to the Jr. Olympics. The original Mighty Ducks were teamed up with new hockey players from all over the country and must learn to play as a team. Once in the Olympics the team and coach had to overcome the commercialism and play for pride. In the end, The Ducks beat the fierce Iceland team.

Both of these movies made me wish that I could be an Olympian during my youth. They were fun movies that portrayed an active lifestyle as the fun way to go. They were laced with various inspiring and confidence boosting storylines and moments but one, more than any other, made these movies truly worthwhile. Both movies taught that PRIDE is the most important thing that a person has. Pride in what you do, pride in your country, pride in your beliefs, pride in your family and pride in your friends. They were feel good movies but for all of their fun, their lessons are why they deserve a second look.

January 16, 2010

In light of the Avatar craze I decided to look back at James Cameron’s last pop culture saturating feat, 1997’s Titanic. Sure, the special effects were mad cool for their day but no film since Titanic has had the allure of Titanic. A few reasons that the Titanic frenzy deserves a second look follow.

“I’ve seen it six times in theatres.” “Wow, but I’ve seen it seven times!” Really… why on earth did we all need to see Titanic more than once or generously twice in theatres? I’d like to think it was because as a human collective everyone decided to examine the fragile state of humanity. In reality, we all loved Jack and Rose and most certainly hated Cal. Admit it, you clapped in the theatre the first time you saw Rose spit in Cal’s face and run to Jack. Jack and Rose’s love story made us all pine for a deep love and intimate connection that would compel us to change our name and start our new lives with only memories of the person that inspired us.

Not to be cliche’ but when I think of inspiration and I think of Titanic, one very important person comes to mind. Not James Cameron but CELINE DION. You can love or hate this song. I choose to love it. I love it now and I loved it in elementary school when they would play the song with sound bytes from the movie itself dubbed in on the radio. I danced at my earliest boy/girl dances to this song and believed in all that it said. Today I still think the song deserves attention. It’s my favorite song to sing at karaoke and (youtube it!) the music video for this song is absolutely hilarious.

While Avatar is admittedly an enjoyable movie with special effects that blur reality and fiction the culture surrounding the movie, the hype, the public fawning of it are minimal in comparison to Titanic. My apologies to the Na’vi of Pandora but Jack and Rose will always be king of the world and that is why Titanic deserves a second look.